see my castle may be haunted, but i'm terrified of you
by mozzafiato
Summary: Riley Matthews is slowly making her way in the world, enjoying her simple life in New York working as a barista at Starbucks. She makes plenty of friends through her job, but her life is turned upside-down when she finds her favorite blonde customer in the alley... covered in blood. / AU fic featuring romance, humor, pain, and, most notably, vampires. (SEE INSIDE FOR PAIRING INFO)
1. Chapter 1

**~THIS IS NOT A RILEY-CENTRIC STORY, IT WAS JUST THE BEST SUMMARY I COULD COME UP WITH- the story will have several main characters~**

 **Hi guys! So, this is something I've been working on religiously for a few weeks now. I'm a bit ahead with the chapters on this, so hopefully updates won't be too slow! This is my highest priority story for the time being, probably until it's completely finished. This started out as a long oneshot, but I kept getting ideas and it turned into a full-on chapter fic so hollaaaaa**

 **A/N: I am NOT revealing the pairings for this until it's revealed in the story. I'm hoping the readers are open to more than one ship, but if you genuinely don't want to read this without knowing who the endgames are, feel free to message me and I'll gladly tell you what the end pairings are going to be. :) I will say that there will be snippets/moments between several pairings throughout the story. All that being said, please enjoy the first chapter of _see my castle may be haunted, but i'm terrified of you_**

 **Disclaimer: the plot of GMW would honestly be so angsty and hectic if I owned it why would anyone do that to us**

* * *

 ** _see my castle may be haunted, but i'm terrified of you_**

Maya met Riley at a Starbucks.

Riley was the cute barista who drew little hearts next to Maya's name on her triple-shot white mocha, and Maya was the girl who wore a leather jacket and stilettos and shamelessly flirted with Riley. She had come in almost every night for six months, and Riley was always there, ready with her total before they even exchanged words.

On this particular Tuesday evening, Maya strolled in hours later than usual (sans the leather jacket and heels) wearing a simple black pullover, dark grey leggings, and plain canvas tennis shoes. Her hair was loosely braided to the side, with a mess of stray pieces hanging wildly around her face, which was even paler than usual. And, most noticeably, she had dark bags under her eyes, which also seemed a much darker shade of blue than they normally were. Riley noticed all of this immediately, and concern instantly clouded her features. She frowned noticeably as the blonde approached the counter.

Maya watched as Riley's bottom lip poked out in a pout, raising an eyebrow and looking down at herself, then back up at the brunette.

"I'm sick," she deadpanned with a shrug. Riley's lip jutted out even further in response.

"Aw, peaches, why are you here? Not that I don't love seeing your face every night," she clarified with a shy smile, "but don't you have coffee at home?"

"Trying to get rid of me already?" This time, Maya stuck out her lower lip in a fake pout, causing Riley to break out in a grin.

"Of course not!" she replied instantly. "You just don't look as... fierce as you usually do, I guess. Your fierceness levels are critically low, Maya!" Riley giggled at herself.

Maya rolled her eyes, but couldn't resist the smile that erupted on her face, despite how awful she felt. She loved their dynamic, if she were being honest. From day one, Riley had spoken to her like they had been best friends for years.

"I'll recharge my fierceness levels with a venti white mocha, thank you very much," she quipped.

"Ooh, venti tonight, huh? That rough?" Riley responded as she rang up her order.

Maya laughed humorlessly. "You could say that."

"Tell you what," Riley responded as she emphasized the last button push and returned her gaze to Maya. "I won't charge you for the extra espresso this time, okay? $5.38."

"You're my girl," Maya replied with a wink, handing her a debit card. Riley smirked and quickly swiped it before handing it back over, then disappeared behind the machinery (it may have been Maya who disappeared, since she was barely a head taller than the bar-style pickup counter, but she'd never admit it). She stood around for a total of seventeen seconds before someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she spun around to find herself face-to-chest with a six-foot-tall jock who she could only describe as _'meaty'._ When he didn't say anything, electing instead to just smile at her hungrily (gross), she finally piped up.

"Uh. Hi?"

"Hey sweet cheeks," he replied with a growing smile. Sweet cheeks? Seriously?

"Yeah... okay," she responded flatly, her polite smile sliding off of her face. "Sorry, not interested. Nice meeting you." Before he could respond, she spun back around and folded her arms on the counter, resting her chin on them and watching Riley shuffle around on the opposite side. She dared to assume she was in the clear for a couple of brief moments, until the meathead placed himself beside her at the counter, awkwardly leaning over as he tried to catch her eye.

"Now just hear me out-" he began smoothly, but was cut off by Riley's chipper voice.

"Venti white mocha!" she announced as she slid it across the counter to Maya. Before she had a chance to let the cup go, Maya wrapped her hand around Riley's fingers as she slowly slid it from her grasp. Riley kept smiling, but raised her eyebrow and cocked her head to the side a bit. (Could she _be_ more adorable?)

"Thanks, sweet cheeks," Maya said with another wink and blew a kiss to Riley, who dramatically caught it mid-air and patted it over her heart. Maya smiled widely at her, then turned back to the jock, whose condescending smirk was long gone. Maya smiled sweetly at him and turned to walk away, but threw her head over her shoulder as she moved toward the door.

"Again, nice meeting you!" she called as she crossed the threshold onto the sidewalk, letting the door swing closed behind her.

Still behind the counter, Riley silently relished in the agitated look on the man's face and smiled to herself, gently shaking her head as she cleaned up the mess she had made with Maya's order. She was almost constantly in a good mood, but Maya always made it a little better.

* * *

Riley huffed out a sigh as she squeezed through the back alley door of Starbucks, hauling a giant trash bin alongside her. It was closing time, thank goodness, and she was more than ready to go home to her cozy (tiny) apartment and cuddle with her cat, Bear (name inspired by a little too much excitement at both getting a pet and finding her precious childhood toy, Beary the Bear-Bear). She rolled the container to the dumpster, gingerly pulling a trash bag from the top of the pile with one hand while pinching her nose with the other. Just as she prepared to toss the bag over the edge of the receptacle, Riley heard a distinct noise come from the opposite side of the dumpster and froze. Still as a statue, she continued listening to what sounded like... slurping? It could easily just be people making out, she reasoned with herself, but the presence of the dumpster coupled with the pit in her stomach told her otherwise. Her instincts were telling her to run, but her innate curiosity was keeping her feet glued to the speckled pavement. What if it was just an animal? What if it was hurt? It wasn't a sound she'd ever heard any animal make, but she wouldn't rule out the possibility, because what else could it be? Another moment passed before Riley decided to finally say something.

"He-... hello?" she squeaked. The noise stopped abruptly, but there was no shuffling, no shadow movement, nothing to indicate that whatever the source of the sound was wasn't still there. This only added to her unease; if it had been an animal of some sort, surely it would have scurried away at the startle, right? Riley slowly turned her head, barely peeling her eyes from the corner of the dumpster, searching for something to defend herself with should she need to. She glanced down at the trash bag still clutched in her (now white-knuckled) hand, recalling the slight clanking sound she'd heard when she first picked it up. Taking the weight of the bag into consideration, she realized that there was likely a glass syrup bottle or two resting at the bottom. She was startled from her thoughts by a brief shuffling sound, swiftly extending the trash bag in front of her as if it were a shield. It was silent again for a few seconds, but the slurping noise from before resumed before she had a chance to relax.

Riley took a few seconds to rid herself of the tears welling up in her eyes, then finally took a step forward.

"Hello..?" she stuttered again, a little louder, with her voice (hell, her whole body) shaking in fear. This time, the noise didn't stop. It continued on without hesitation, compelling her to take another step closer. Maybe now was the best time to look, since whatever it was seemed to be distracted. _Right? Right._ Riley took a deep breath and prepared to swing the trash bag, slowly pulling it behind her shoulder before leaning to peer around the edge of the dumpster.

Try as she might, Riley couldn't hold onto any shred of courage she'd once had, nor her weapon of choice. Upon the sight of a bloody and familiar braid draped over the pale, still face of stranger, the trash bag fell to the ground with a shatter. Riley could do nothing more than emmit a loud gasp as she stumbled back from the scene, straight into the brick wall behind her. Glowing amber eyes turned to icy blue ones with a quick upward glance, and in a flash she was face-to-face with none other than Maya. Riley didn't even see her get up, much less move across the alley toward her, but here she was staring at the bloodied mouth and hair of her girl crush, and her head was spinning and she didn't know whether to scream or vomit or run. She eventually decided on a combination of all three, but her body had other plans. She found herself unable to do anything besides simply stand there, watching as Maya repeatedly muttered _'fuckfuckfuck'_ under her breath before swiping a sleeve across her mouth and shoving tangled strands of hair away from her face.

"Riley, look, I can explai-"

Just as Maya began to speak, Riley's body finally unfroze. Her first instinct was to scream at the top of her lungs, but instead she doubled over, emptying out the contents of her stomach (coffee, coffee, and more coffee. God, that was disgusting.) Maya reached out and retracted her hand several times before she finally settled on awkwardly patting Riley's back exactly twice, blowing out a stiff gust of air as she did so. How did she even begin to explain this?

As soon as it registered that Maya was touching her, Riley jumped up and back, stumbling over a stray box and falling over. Maya instinctively reached out a hand to help her up, but Riley scrambled back to her feet and continued stepping away from her. Maya sighed and held her hands up in surrender, cocking her hip almost boredly as she watched her. It was then that Riley realized she was retreating further into the alley rather than away from the scene, and she had left the key to the store over by the trash can. She contemplated rushing back to grab it, but a quick glance toward the dumpster revealed the blue, veiny body of the man lying in a pool of his own blood, and she just barely held back another round of projectile vomit.

Riley braced herself with one hand on the wall, one hand on her knee, struggling not to dry heave as she bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Once she stopped moving, Maya decided to try to talk to her again.

"Look, Riley," she took a careful step toward the brunette, whose eyes darted up wildly as she righted herself defensively. She was absolutely terrified. "I know this is a lot-"

"Is he..?" Riley interrupted, shifting her focus somewhere behind Maya again.

"Dead?" Maya deadpanned, glancing over her shoulder toward the unmoving man. "Definitely." she declared, looking back toward Riley with an unamused look on her face. Riley's eyes somehow widened, even more petrified than before. Maya softened a bit; she remembered what it was like the first time she had happened upon this situation.

"But hey, listen," she continued, voice warmer now. "He was already dead when I got here, I swear. Drug deal gone wrong- I didn't kill him." She took another step toward Riley, who dragged her gaze back to Maya.

"Wh- what were you doing to him?" Riley inquired almost inaudibly, voice cracking. God, she sounded so small, so naive; Maya felt like shit for letting her see this.

"I was, um... well, I was feeding."

Riley choked out a short sob, pressing a shaky hand over her mouth. She dropped the limb a second later and rolled her head back, fixing her sight on a plane in the sky as she tried to catch a full breath and quell another wave of nausea.

"What, um-" she finally continued, lowering her head back down and fidgeting nervously with her hands. "Would you care to elaborate?"

Maya took one more slow step toward her before responding, closely observing the brunette's body language. Riley didn't budge, even with a mere five feet of space between them- but she sure as hell looked like she was ready to bolt at any second.

"I'm a vampire," she spoke slowly, carefully. "Unfortunately, I need human blood to survive." Riley subconsciously brought a hand to her neck, prompting Maya to realize how scary that probably sounded in her ears. "Bu- but I'm not going to hurt you, promise," she rushed, holding her hands out defensively. She heaved a sigh, taking one last step forward and nearly closing the space between the two. "Look, I know this is a lot, I really do, but I would never hurt you. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I don't... you know, _feed_... on living people. And even if I did, you'd never be someone I'd go after."

Riley stared at her for a long time, eyebrows bunched together, clearly pondering what she'd just heard. At first, she'd immediately convinced herself that this was some kind of imposter. But now, there was no way she could deny that it was Maya, and she wasn't sure if that made the situation better or worse. For all she knew, Maya could easily be lying to her face and planning to eat her as soon as she let her guard down. She could have ferociously killed that man to suck his blood, because hello, apparently she's a vampire (what the _fuck_ , by the way). However, there was something genuine about her that Riley just couldn't ignore. Whether it was the pleading look in her eyes, or all of the minutes spent getting to know her these last six months, Riley just couldn't bring herself to believe that Maya, this fiery girl who drank a Starbucks latte every single day, was a stone-cold monster. Just as Maya began nervously glancing around, antsy due to the prolonged silence, Riley finally huffed out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and brushed her fingers across her wet cheeks. She started shaking her hands rapidly and bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet, trying to get rid of her anxiety.

"Okay, okay," she stuttered out, momentarily stilling her movements to get a good look at Maya. The blonde simply raised an amused brow, stifling a smirk at the girl's antics. "Well," Riley finally declared, "despite all the blood, you do look healthier than you did earlier." Riley claimed suddenly. Maya looked down at herself and let out a short clap of laughter.

"Yeah, I was starving."

* * *

 **don't forget to favorite, follow and review! next chapter will be up shortly!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two, less than 24 hours later! Can you believe it? Don't get used to this my dears ;) This one's hella angsty but really starts providing some context. Let me know what you think!**

 **disclaimer: No I still don't own GMW and yes I'm still upset about it**

* * *

"You don't do anything with the body?!" Riley whispered loudly. She and Maya had been walking briskly for about fifteen minutes now, away from the scene of the crime.

"Shh!" Maya shushed her, glancing around nervously. "We're only a mile away, can you please keep your voice down?"

Riley rolled her eyes in response, looking around as well. "Maya, there's no one here. How can you just leave the body lying there? That's so sa-"

"Riley, honey, what do you propose I do with it?"

"...Well I don't know, I don't deal with dead bodies on a regular basis!"

"Shh!"

"Will you _stop_ shushing me?!"

Maya sighed and pulled the hair tie from the tail of her braid, sticking it in her mouth as the plait unraveled. She rubbed her sweater over her hair to try and get some blood off before it dried, but gave up after a few seconds and began pulling it back up into a messy bun to hide the crimson streaks.

"Riley," she spoke around the hair tie still clenched in her teeth, "that's where they would have found it whether I had been there or not." Maya snatched the ponytail from her mouth and finished off her bun. "There's not really a place for that. Would it have been nicer for me to bury him in the woods?"

Riley stuck out her tongue in response, muttering a small 'touché' under her breath as they continued on.

The two walked in silence for another thirty seconds before Riley piped up again.

"Does sunlight hurt?"

Maya raised a brow at Riley, but continued walking nonetheless. "Uh... yeah, but not as much as you'd think. It just feels like a sunburn happening really fast."

Riley nodded for a second, then continued. "Can you fly?"

Maya's only response was to openly gawk at the brunette.

"What?" Riley quickly defended, catching onto Maya's expression. "I have questions!" she exclaimed.

"Okay, okay," Maya held up her hands in surrender. "No, vampires can't fly. Next question."

Riley pondered for a moment, considering her next inquiry. "Ooh! Are you immortal?"

"Not exactly. We can withstand a lot more than normal humans and age way slower, but we aren't invincible and we don't live forever."

"Wait..." Riley stopped suddenly, turning to Maya with a spark of realization gracing her features. "How _old_ are you?"

Maya looked upwards slightly, counting her fingers and muttering incoherently under her breath as she calculated. Riley's mouth gaped open.

Finally, Maya nodded and looked back to Riley. "Yeah, okay. I got it. I'm 23."

"Ugh," Riley playfully smacked her on the arm, eliciting a snicker from Maya. "I thought you were at least going to be in the hundreds!"

"Nope," Maya grinned. "Next question!"

"Hmm..." Riley thought again, her face brightening when she thought of another one. "Do you know any other vampires?"

Maya grinned again. "Just one, and you're about to meet him!" She proceeded to suddenly grab Riley's arm and yank her into a nearby alley, alongside an elegant apartment building. Riley allowed herself to be pulled along as she gazed up in wonder at the bright windows above. She snapped back to reality when they came to a sudden stop outside of a side door, and Maya released her arm to dig around in the breast pocket of her sweater.

"Aha!" she yelled when she eventually produced a bobby pin, holding it to the dim overhead light triumphantly. "I knew-"

"Did you die?" Riley interrupted quietly.

Maya slowly lowered her arm, letting the joyful smile fall from her face as she stared at Riley wordlessly for several seconds.

"Yeah," she finally replied, anxiously clearing her throat. "Yeah, I did." The broken look in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by Riley before she quickly looked to the ground.

"Maya, I'm so sor-"

"No, no, it's fine," Maya laughed tensely, waving it off and stooping down to pick the lock before Riley had a chance to pry anymore. She succeeded in six seconds flat, pushing open the door with ease and strolling inside with Riley in tow.

"So... I take it you don't live here?" Riley wondered aloud as she took in the gold-framed pearly walls, the shiny white tile beneath her feet, and the crystal chandeliers adorning the ceiling every twenty feet or so.

"Only in my dreams," Maya chuckled, "but I might as well. I'm here hanging out with Farkle all the time anyways."

"I'm sorry, did you just call your friend a farkle?" Riley questioned, prompting Maya to laugh out loud.

"Not _a_ farkle, _the_ Farkle!" she exclaimed, noting Riley's look of confusion. "His name is Farkle, sweetie. Weird, I know, but oddly fitting once you get to know him."

Riley nodded in response, unable to think of an appropriate comment. The duo came to a stop once again in front of a beautiful white door, which Maya promptly pounded on mercilessly. She reached over and pressed the red button on a small intercom to Riley's right, yelling into the microphone.

"Yo, Farks, it's me! Open up!"

There was a pause when she released the button, followed by a suave, _"Ladies."_

Maya rolled her eyes as they listened to footsteps approaching the other side of the door.

"Sorry in advance," she muttered just as the door opened.

Standing in the doorway was a six-foot-tall lanky boy, with a pompadour hairstyle that he pulled off surprising well, and a cheesy suggestive expression on his face. Maya instantly rolled her eyes and shoved past him into the apartment, leaving him to blow a raspberry at her as she passed before focusing his attention back on the second girl.

"You must be Riley," he awkwardly stuck out his hand, "Maya texted me that we were having company. It's so nice to finally have someone besides that heathen over-"

"Hey!"

He rolled his eyes again and leaned in to speak lowly, "As much as I love her, who wouldn't get tired of that sarcasm after so long?"

Riley giggled and grasped his hand. "Pleasure to meet you," she beamed.

Farkle smiled at her and stepped back, sweeping his arm toward the apartment in a welcoming motion. Riley nodded and stepped inside, admiring the eloquent design as she slowly made her way towards Maya in the living room (who was already flipping channels on the television). Once she reached her, Riley sat herself on the sofa next to Maya, but Farkle promptly shut the t.v. off upon entering.

"So, how was work?" he nodded to Maya, who only glared at him for turning off the show she had just gotten interested in.

"Socialize." Farkle deadpanned, unaffected as he seated himself on the plush carpet across from the girls. Maya sighed and sat up on the couch, tossing the remote back onto the table loudly.

"Well, I'm not there, am I?" she stated sarcastically, earning a raised brow from Farkle, signaling for clarification. "I called in sick," she elaborated. "Wasn't expecting to, um, find food tonight." He nodded in understanding.

"Wait," Riley piped up. "You have a job?"

Maya looked over to her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, yeah," she responded. "Where do you think I go dressed like a damn hooker every night?"

"You're a _hooker?_ " Riley exclaimed, eyes just about bulging out of her head.

"No, no," Maya laughed, waving her hands around in dismissal. "I'm a bartender at a nightclub. The stuff they ask me to wear just makes me _look_ like a hooker."

"That it does." Farkle stated sincerely, causing Maya to scoop the remote back up from the coffee table and chuck it at his head. He flashed over to a point several feet away in an instant, still chuckling after doing so. Riley's amused laughter cut off suddenly as she tried to process what she had just seen.

"Yo, Riles, you okay?" Maya poked her arm, gazing at her worriedly.

"Yeah," Riley replied, vigorously shaking her head of her shock. "That's just... going to take a while to get used to."

"Ah, yeah, temporary superspeed," Farkle said, shooting Riley an apologetic look as he made his way back over to the duo. "It took a while for us to get used to, too. You know, scientifically, it's really just a short-lived energy aura that surrounds and permeates-"

"Oh, now look what you've done," Maya interrupted, abruptly standing up and beginning to walk away from the group. Riley laughed at Farkle's exasperated expression, but he made no effort to continue speaking. "No one cares about your genius stuff, my dear."

"NASA does!" Farkle argued back, and just as Maya opened her mouth for another retort-

"You two make an adorable couple," Riley said sweetly in the midst of their bickering, cutting it off and replacing it with tension that you could cut with a knife. Farkle's face scrunched up like he had just taken a bite from a lemon, and Maya's jaw just about touched the floor as she slowly rotated her head toward the naive brunette.

"W-What?" Riley stuttered, taking in their horrified expressions with unease. Out of nowhere, Maya finally busted out laughing and crumpled to the floor, clutching her stomach as she did so. After a few moments of this (and Farkle remaining unmoving in utter shock), Maya finally brought herself to a sitting position while wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

"That is..." she paused to bark out another laugh before regaining her composure once more. "Literally the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. No offense Farkle," she added as an afterthought.

"I'm not even offended," he finally unfroze his face while a repulsed shudder racked his body. "I couldn't think of a better way to phrase it. Gross."

"Oh, I'm sorry-" Riley began to apologize, but was interrupted by Maya.

"No, no, my B," she waved it off, wiping one last tear from her eye as she stood up. "I definitely should have mentioned that _that_ -" she glanced toward Farkle with a sneer, " _has_ never and _will_ never be a thing. Ugh," she allowed herself a small shudder as well, before quickly recovering and placing a hand on her cocked hip.

"So, now that you know I'm available..." she continued, wiggling her eyebrows provocatively at Riley, who smiled empathetically in response.

"Sorry, Maya-" The blonde immediately clutched her heart and folded slightly in on herself dramatically, feigning intense heartbreak.

"Well in that case," Farkle remarked suggestively as he sauntered back over, ignoring the rough swat on the arm from Maya.

"I have a boyfriend," Riley smirked sadly, amusement and guilt both written on her features. Farkle simply nodded, while Maya's mouth hung open once more.

"You have a _boyfriend?!_ " she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "I've been flirting with you for months!"

"I mean, we're not that serious," Riley giggled. "We've been dating for a while, but we're not in love. I don't think he feels it either, we're just more like... brother and sister, I guess," Riley said without thinking, then noticed the way Maya scrunched up her face in disgust, "-but not in an icky way!" she quickly backpedaled.

"Ew." the blonde deadpanned anyway, earning a playful eyeroll from Riley. "Well, tell me about him!" she waved her arm around wildly, awaiting an explanation.

"Well, his name is Lucas-" Riley began, but was cut off by Farkle clearing his throat pointedly. When the girls looked over to him, he was leaning upon a doorless frame leading to what looked to be the kitchen.

"Maya," he muttered lowly, as if Riley couldn't hear him. "A word?" he nodded to the room behind him then walked inside. Maya rolled her eyes and looked back to Riley, leaning in to whisper as she started to get up.

"He probably wants to make out with me now that you put the idea in his head," she joked under her breath, causing Riley to burst into a fit of giggles as the blonde headed toward the kitchen.

Suddenly alone, Riley sat awkwardly with her hands folded in her lap, gazing around the room but quickly growing bored. She contemplated flipping on the television, but didn't want to overstep any boundaries. She resorted to counting how many times her leg anxiously bounced up and down, up and down, up and down, but heaved a sigh as she lost count around forty. Riley peered around boredly for another moment before deciding that Farkle probably wouldn't mind if she watched a little t.v. while she waited. Just as she leaned forward to reach for the remote, she heard a yell come from the room her peers had disappeared into-

"She's not just _some girl_ , Farkle! It was an accident!"

Riley froze mid-reach, listening intently as the voices lowered again. Leaning back away from the remote, her curiosity got the best of her for the second time that night and she stood slowly, making her way to the kitchen as silently as possible and pressing herself against the wall just outside the room once she reached it. She was now able to hear the two just barely holding back from yelling; all of the whisper-shouting they were doing was just as intense as if they were in a full-on screaming match.

"I like her, Maya!" she heard Farkle say, listening to the light slap of hands hitting jeans after he threw his arms up. "I don't think she would _intentionally_ do anything, but we have to be as cautious as possible! How is feeding behind a freaking Starbucks _cautious?!"_

"I hadn't eaten in _weeks_ ," Maya growled in response. Riley heard her take a step closer, followed by the sudden clang of silverware as Farkle walked backwards into the counter. "Excuse me for using slightly less-than-average logic!"

"We can't afford for you to be less than average again!" _Ouch._

"What the fuck do you mean _again?_ " Riley winced at the venom in the blonde's tone.

Farkle rushed out a harsh sigh before continuing, "Remember what happened last time you were careless?"

"You'd better stop right there, Far-"

"I don't want you to end up like your mother, Maya."

There was a pregnant pause where it sounded like the world had frozen. Riley couldn't even hear them breathing, but it had sounded like they were a good distance away before and she didn't hear any retreating footsteps, so she chanced a peek around the frame. She did so just as Maya suddenly marched over to Farkle and grabbed the collar of his button-down, roughly yanking him down so that they were face-to-face and balling up her other fist in sheer anger. Farkle glared right back at her, seemingly unintimidated.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about my mother. I put myself in dangerous situations all the _fucking_ timefor you, and this is what I get?" she seethed as Farkle finally averted his gaze, steely expression still in tact. "You're a piece of shit for bringing that up," she finished, releasing his shirt and stomping toward the exit. Riley scrambled to look nonchalant as Maya barged past, but the blonde didn't even seem to notice her as she headed straight for the front door, slamming it fiercely on the way out.

The brunette suddenly found herself very uncomfortable in what was essentially a stranger's apartment, now absent of the person who brought her there in the first place. She peered back around the edge of the entryway, quietly watching as Farkle dragged a hand through his hair, then suddenly pounded a fist onto the granite countertop. He stood there silently for a few moments, eyes closed and nostrils flaring in and out with his breathing, then finally opened his eyes and headed back toward the living area as Riley swiftly pulled her head back around the corner. He jumped as he passed by Riley, suddenly taking notice of the fact that she hadn't retreated with Maya.

"Oh, hey," he started, quickly turning away to swipe a hand across his eyes before facing her (but Riley had already seen the tears beginning to gather in the corners). "I'm, uh, I'm sorry if you heard any of that," he sighed. "Do you need help getting home?" Riley simply shook her head with an awkward smile, and quickly shuffled back over to the t.v. area to grab her purse. Farkle walked her to the door, holding it open for her as she crossed.

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" he asked as she turned in the hallway to say goodbye.

"Oh, no, I'm fine," Riley smiled tightly. Farkle nodded and began to close the door, "-but! Um-" she continued before the door shut completely, and he opened it back up halfway to look at her again. Riley sighed.

"Look, I hope everything is okay," she finally breathed. "I really like you and Maya both and the last thing I want to do is hurt anybody." Riley nodded, satisfied with her final sentiment, and began walking away without waiting for a response. She made it down the hallway to the building exit before she finally heard the apartment door close softly. She took a deep breath and noted the slight drizzle outside, preparing herself for the brisk autumn chill, then shoved open the door and immediately squealed at the dark figure standing beside her.

"Jesus, it's about time," Maya pushed herself from the dark brick wall, throwing a shortened cigarette to the ground and extinguishing it beneath her shoe. The blonde made her way past Riley without another word, heading out of the alley and back toward the wet streets of Manhattan.

"God, don't scare me like that!" Riley squeaked, clutching her heart and shuffling to catch up to her friend.

"Sorry," Maya chuckled in response, continuing on her way as Riley finally caught up. "What, did you think I was just going to leave you here?"

"Well, I don't know, it got a little... intense," Riley answered honestly, hoping Maya would divulge a little information. No such luck.

"Mmhmm..." the other girl mumbled quietly, clearly in no mood to do such. Riley decided she would just have to be more blunt.

"Maya?"

"Hmm?" she hummed again, still trudging forward and refusing eye contact.

"What the heck was that?"

Maya heaved a sigh, looking down at her soaked shoes but continuing to walk.

"Complicated." she eventually uttered. Riley simply nodded in response, confused as ever. They continued on in silence for another few minutes, reminiscent of their journey there but with a significant amount of added tension.

"Maya?" the brunette finally questioned once again.

"Yes?" Maya sounded like she was on the verge of exasperation, but was also trying to remain polite.

"...Do you have a family?"

Maya stopped dead in her tracks, still staring blankly straight ahead. If Riley were being honest, she would have preferred sadness or anger or even just some form of eye contact, but the emptiness in her expression was more unsettling than anything.

"No." she answered simply after a few moments, trotting forward like nothing had changed. Riley decided to drop the subject for now, but in the ten silent minutes it took for them to arrive at the subway and board different trains, she couldn't dull the growing ache in her chest at watching (and feeling) the pure numbness her peer had exhibited. She contemplated asking the blonde when they would see each other again, but Maya wordlessly laid herself on a bench and closed her eyes as Riley's train arrived, and she couldn't find it in herself to disrupt. She boarded the subway without another word, finally catching a glimpse of the girl's piercing blue gaze through the window before the train disappeared into the tunnel.

* * *

 **A/N: I know absolutely nothing about New York or the subway.**

 _ **Don't forget to follow, fav, and review! Remember, this lovely website tells me how many of you are reading and not reviewing ;P**_


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